Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt Strings Review

ERNIE BALL SLINKY COBALT STRINGS 

First of all let’s knock the chemistry lesson on the head… Cobalt (Co), atomic number 27, is a chemical element found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal. So it’s not very often we see a new technology come along for guitar strings but Ernie Ball have done just that releasing their new Cobalt series strings.

So why have our helical spring loving friends at Ernie Ball felt it necessary to start using this new formulation to make guitar strings? The idea is to create a stronger magnetic pull between the strings and the guitar pickups, which yields two important benefits over standard nickel & steel strings:
1. Higher output
2. Increased frequency response

So what did I discover? I cannot but mention upon opening the hermetically sealed packet the heavy scent of cobalt metal that wafted from within compared to your more standard nickel & steel offerings. I was not thrown, but it did give me the idea of perhaps some scented string options in future? The strings themselves felt different to the touch not unlike when you spray finger ease on your strings, this did leave me curious as to possible playability differences.

The strings delivered on all fronts, Cobalt is highly magnetic compared to steel & nickel which certainly translated in a livelier, punchier, brighter output on both clean and dirty tones. It seemed more noticeable on single coil pickups namely the wound strings giving increased low end response, as you pushed gain levels in the upwards direction they seem to retain more individual string clarity when playing chords and give you an apparent difference in output through the pickups.

On hum buckers the difference was less noticeable however delivered a sense of increased touch sensitivity, bass response and output. The strings stabilised really well and tended to hold very good tune, with a satisfyingly nice silky feel and playability.

In summary if your single coil pickup guitars are lacking excitement or you’re a rock & metal player looking for an easy enhancement to push your preamp harder the new Ernie ball cobalt’s might well be the string you’ve been looking for.

8.5/10

Review by Danny Yoghurt

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Maton ER90C Review

MATON ER90C ACOUSTIC/ELECTRIC GUITAR

We’re proud folk us Australians.The kind of proud folk that claim constellations as our own and get them permanently stained to our bodies to make sure everybody else knows exactly how proud we are. The kind of proud folk who at sporting events crown the successful competitors ‘Honorary Australians’ because if we’re not going to win, it may as well be the honorary Aussies.

And the kind of proud folk that will buy Australian made over US made, regardless of the price.  Depending on the person, some of these characteristics will be viewed in a positive and some in a negative light but one thing rings through regardless – we like to think we’re the best and the luckiest folk in the world.

Any Australian who reads this can relate to having at least once walked into a pub around the country to hear some guy in the corner, acoustic guitar in hand singing something along the lines of ‘My Happiness’ or ‘Eagle Rock’. On almost all of these occasions you may or may not have noticed that this person was holding an Australian made Maton guitar.

By a long stretch Maton Guitars are the most widely gigged instruments in Australia and this isn’t purely due to patriotic Australians refusing to explore different options. They are fantastic working guitars.

Maton guitars characteristically have a focused mid-range that really cuts through in a band environment. That accompanied with their AP-5 pickup and really solid build quality make for the perfect working instrument. What Maton’s do lack however is depth. The guy singing ‘Working Class Man’ in the corner of Bridie O’Reilly’s immediately exchanges his Maton for his Martin or Gibson the minute he goes into the studio, as these classic acoustic guitars offer a richer and grander tonality along with huge character that goes a long way in the studio.  This is where Maton’s new model comes in.

It’s a rarity in Maton world that a new model comes along, so we were a touch excited when we got the news. Their new ER90C offers an acoustic guitar with a solid AA spruce top, AP5 pickup and solid Indian Rosewood back and sides; the characteristics of Indian Rosewood being the key ingredient here.

This timber is generally regarded as the most popular ‘up-range’ tone wood with characteristics that are dark but very rich. The low end is very pronounced and full but also with very clear tops, overall an extended EQ spectrum to that of other timbers.

Maton already offer a few different models with solid Indian Rosewood but at higher price points. The idea with the ER90C is that it fits the budget of the working musician but also has the rich tonal qualities that make it the perfect crossover guitar to take from the gig to the studio.

So does it hold up?

Whilst there is a deeper bellow to the guitar and it does host a richer tonal flavor than its closest sibling the ECW80C, it still doesn’t have the character of the aforementioned Martin’s and Gibson’s that are so often favored in the studio environment.

But it also doesn’t sell for nearly as much, nor do those guitars have a pickup and therefore aren’t useable in most live scenarios. So next time you’re finishing off ‘Most People I Know’ and are flustered by knowing you have to run home to get your other guitar before going to your studio session in Fairfield, maybe consider investing your Friday night residency cheque on an ER90C.

7.5/10

Review by Gary Milk

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Steinberg CMC Transport Controllers Review

STEINBERG CMC TRANSPORT CONTROLLERS

Being a long term Cubase user I was a touch excited when my Steinberg brethren informed me of the new CMC Transport series controllers for Cubase software.

There are 6 different controller configurations to choose from, all taking care of a range of functions for mixing and production.  These are a welcome addition to the seemingly expanding Steinberg hardware range of products.

What do they do? They are a series of controllers that allow you to edit and manipulate different functions within your recording software in real-time. However I do say ‘recording software’ rather loosely. Although these controllers can essentially be assigned to any software you like their layout is very Cubase specific and therefore much more functional with this than anything else.  The functions allow you to control different features such as play, stop, record, loop, jog etc (depending on which unit) with the idea of streamlining the entire process.

The main unit in testing is the transport control version.  Installation proved simple and upon opening up a previous Cubase session my controller was ready to go. The illuminating lights were very pleasing to the eye and the soft yet convincing button touch was of a solid standard.

Can I run multiple CMC controllers you ask? Of course you can but I would seriously recommend a USB hub, there is in fact no way of linking units internally and the only possible way of connection is via a single USB socket per controller.

Unfortunately I fail to see how you could realistically only get away with picking one particular unit to cover a majority of Cubase workflow which to some may seem a negative, however Steinberg are offering extension frames for grouping multiple units together which will keep your environment tidy and your mum happy.
In summary, will you have to wrestle me away from my mouse? Well maybe not just yet…

6.5/10

Review by Danny Yoghurt

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Earthquaker Devices

Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster Review

SQUIER J MASCIS JAZZMASTER
 

“Hi how are you going I’m thinking of learning how to play electric guitar”
“Well great you’ve definitely come to the right place, did you have a certain budget in mind?”
“I do, as little as possible”
“Ok no worries, first we’ll start with what kind of sound you’d like in a guitar. Do you prefer the classic rock sounds of guitarists like Angus Young and Jimmy Page or maybe the bluesy tones of Eric Clapton and John Mayer?”
“Not really any of those guys to be honest”.
“Metal? Punk?”
“Nope. I’m actually really into the warped tremolo arm sounds of Kevin Shields and feedback laden experiments of Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo”
“I’m sorry sir, when these guitars were bought by your heroes they were relatively cheap. The cheapest one I have now is $1000”
“That’s bulls*#t!”
“Correct”

For years the budget conscious guitarist has been denied access to some of rocks most iconic guitars – Fenders offset waist Jaguars and Jazzmasters. “But what about the Squier Vintage Modified series and Fender Blacktop series?” I hear you say. Yes, whilst these do host the name of these guitars, they are far from the actual guitars we know and love. They have different bridge setups, pickup configurations and are often without their most well known feature – the tremolo arm. We often hear stories of the iconic Jag and Jazzmaster players of old picking up these guitars for mere pocket change at thrift stores. These days though guitarists need to shell out $2500 (street price) for the USA Vintage Reissue guitars and even over $1000 +  for the Mexican Classic Players and Japanese issue instruments. You’d think then that a budget friendly Chinese made Squier Jazzmaster wouldn’t stand up against its more glamorous siblings. Well then think again…

After already having his own ‘Fender’ branded Jazzmaster, its quite clear in the build quality of this guitar that for Dinosaur Jr frontman and alt-rock guitar hero J Mascis, if he was going to have a Squier branded instrument, it needed to be pretty special. It’s stated on Fender’s overview of the guitar that Mascis has specified the “pickups, hardware and finish”. On this note the vintage white finish with anodized gold pickguard have a much more traditional look to that of Mascis’ previous Purple Sparkle Jazzmaster and the specs of this guitar alike are sure to please those traditionalists out there.

The guitar is equipped with vintage style tuners with split tops for string insertion that hold there tune quite well even when using the tremolo arm. The floating tremolo on this guitar is without the trem-lock switch, which does mean the guitar will go out of tune if a string is broken. In the same vein as the Blacktop and Classic Player Jazzmaster’s the tailpiece is shifted forward closer to the bridge. Whilst this does remove some of the overtones that helped characterize that vintage Jazzmaster sound, it does increase sustain and decrease the likelihood of strings jumping out of their saddles due to the heightened string angle. This accompanied with the Adjusto-Matic bridge enhance the usability of this guitar which is a huge plus on an entry level instrument. The satin finished C neck plays beautifully and the 9.5” radius and jumbo frets once again do make this guitar a bit more user friendly. Traditionally basswood is a relatively dark sounding timber, however even acoustically this guitar sounds quite resonant. The pickups are bright and lively, not too dissimilar to the ‘hotter’ pickups found in the Classic Player Jazzmasters. They do lack a little in the low end in comparison to the aforementioned model and are definitely not as warm and vintage sounding as the US model. The difference between the neck pickup and rhythm circuit also isn’t as varied as some of the other guitars. That aside, they are still quite characterful and definitely are more tonally rich and usable in higher applications than the price point suggests.
This is without question the best Squier guitar I’ve played. The Classic Vibe series Strat’s and Tele’s are fantastic but I still question whether they would hold their own in a ‘pro’ environment, this will be no problem here. It feels nicer to play than the Japanese issue Jazzmaster’s and the difference tonally between these and the Mexican Classic Player’s is minimal at best. Whilst the USA 1962 reissues still reign comfortably supreme over the J Mascis Jazzmaster, you also expect they would at more than four times the price. It’s been a long time coming for a guitar like this and now those who want to experience the unique world of Fender offset guitars on a budget price can. I’m sure Fender are going to be selling these by the truckload and one can only hope there’ll be an equivalent Jaguar model in the pipeline soon as well. With the 50^th anniversary of the Jaguar this year and Johnny Marr and Kurt Cobain signature models being recently released maybe it’ll be sooner than we think. Maybe they’ll honour an Australian. Roland S. Howard anyone?

For those who are struggling to find any string behind the bridge on a Telecaster.
Not for those who think Yngwie Malmsteen’s ‘Rising Force’ album is a landmark point in the history of guitar playing.

4 Cardigans out of 5

Review by Gary Milk

http://worldofmusic.com.au/Products.asp?ProdID=3146&CatID=6&SubCatID=182

DVK Goldtop Review

DVK TECHNOLOGIES GOLDTOP FUZZ/VIBRATO PEDAL

“I love this pedal! It’s the best fuzz I’ve come across, including my old Arbiter England Fuzz Face from the ’60s!” – Carl Verheyen (Supertramp)

With more boutique pedal companies floating about these days than you can shake a stick at, it’s integral for any maker to have a unique stamp that holds their own. It’s fortunate then that DVK Technologies do exactly that. DVK are a two man pedal producing project out of Melbourne whose shtick lies in the manufacturing of dual function guitar effects and in this instance we’re looking at their Goldtop unit.

This is DVK’s take on a vintage fuzz and vibrato and is a fine addition to any pedal board geared towards sonic psychedelia.  Controls are as follows:

·         FUZZ SIDE (Fuzz, Level, Tone, Shape)

·         VIBRATO SIDE (Rate, Depth, Chorus/Vibrato Toggle Switch)

·         EXPRESSION PEDAL Input for controlling Vibe rate

Sticking to its psychedelic themes, DVK have housed the pedal in a glossed bright yellow, orange and purple casing equipped with Alice in Wonderland imagery.  With the added touch of the Mad Hatters eye being an LED light that flashes in time with the vibe rate it is a far cry from anything resembling an attractive looking pedal but it does have a solid build quality. Where its features get really exciting are with the addition of a switch that allows you to change the stacking order of the pedal, so fuzz before vibe or visa versa. This enables a plethora of sonic variety and opens up a wide range of modulating fuzz tones and machine gun feedback chaos.

Sonically this pedal is geared towards the whole late 60’s – early 70’s thing. The vibrato side is very musical and has a really smooth edge to it even at higher settings. You can channel everything from lush spaciousness in chordal passages to a heavy pulsing wobble. The chorus side being just as tasty with leslie-esque rotaries and organ like gleams. The fuzz side is based off a classic big muff design with a few of their own modifications. At higher settings it doesn’t seem to get as woolly as a big muff and therefore at lower settings is probably more of a distortion than a fuzz. The shape knob allows you to dial in more mid-range and tends to have more scope depending on where the tone is set. The tone control is wide and allows a broad range of sounds that stay usable across the board, everything from thick and creamy Pumpkin-esque fuzzes, rat like distortions and even MC5 like silicon fuzz tones. As a straight fuzz it doesn’t get quite as vintage sounding as say a fuzz face or some of the Fulltone range but it does have more scope in modern applications and allows those thick chunky distortion sounds as well as vintage ones. Enabling the fuzz and vibe in sequence then opens up the tonal palette even further.  It sonically opens up different colours that weren’t initially available, therefore pushing the psychedelic vibes to new levels. We now have access to swishes and washes of noise akin to Hendrix or Yo La Tengo as well as new sonics that border into Fuzz Factory world. The stacking order switch is also a very welcomed addition as it really just extends that flexibility to an already extremely versatile pedal.

Of all the boutique pedals available now, fuzz is probably the effect targeted the most – some companies even focusing on almost this alone.  It’s always going to be a hard task to come up with fuzz that holds its own among the rest but the Goldtop manages to do just that. This is an extremely versatile little unit that can be a welcome addition to players in many applications. Having already made its way on to the pedalboards of Dweezil Zappa and Carl Verheyen (Supertramp), I’m sure it won’t be long until DVK Technologies become more than just another little boutique pedal company.

For those who see kaleidoscopic visions of multi-coloured zebras whilst playing guitar.
Not for those who like make making MOR records with guitar sounds you can take home to Mum.

4.5 Cheshire Cats out of 5

Review by Gary Milk

http://worldofmusic.com.au/Products.asp?ProdID=2931&CatID=22&SubCatID=234

Way Huge Electronics

Angry Troll Linear Boost

The mighty Angry Troll from Way Huge Electronics serves up gorgeous portions of volume and gain to pummel the input of your amp with up to +50dB of gain. It adds bite and punch while transforming your mild mannered tone into a beastly sonic onslaught! The Angry Troll’s two controls interact like a vintage mic pre amp. The Anger knob—a rotary switch with six Fists of Fury positions—adjusts the amount of gain created by the Troll’s op-amp, while the Volume knob regulates the overall output level. High grade components are used for a precisely tuned circuit that works like an extension of your amp. Another tone monster from the mind of Mr. Huge! · Delivers up to +50dB of boost · Precisely tuned to work like an extension of your amp · Adds a little dirt at higher settings · Heavy duty foot switch with quiet relay based true bypass · High grade components for low noise operation.


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Aqua Puss Analog Delay

The Aqua-Puss MkII is making its triumphant return, ready to bathe a tone-thirsty world in gorgeously smooth delay. One twist of the Delay knob takes you from a tight 20ms delay to a cavernous 300ms. The Feedback control regulates delay duration and intensity. But watch out. Extreme settings can send the Aqua-Puss MkII into self-oscillating psycho-freak-out mode! Meanwhile the Blend knob lets you set a balance between dry and delayed signal—from mild to wild. The Aqua-Puss MkII delivers all the spooky mystery of vintage analog delay and tape-based echo, with none of the hassle of creaky, ancient gear.

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Fat Sandwich Harmonic Saturator Distortion

The Fat Sandwich represents a new era in pedal design for Way Huge. In addition to carrying on the Way Huge tradition of amazing tone, rugged construction and cool names, the Fat Sandwich delivers heaps of crunchy distortion goodness via its innovative multi-stage clipping circuit. Meticulously designed from the ground up, the passive tone stack was tuned to bring out the “sweet spot” with any guitar and amp combination. The Volume control produces tons of output, making it ideal for driving the headroom out of the most powerful tube amps. Additionally, the Fat Sandwich has two internal mini controls: the Curve knob lets the user fine-tune the corner frequency of the overdrive filtering and the Sustain control adjusts the gain of the final distortion stage. The Fat Sandwich is versatile and over the top—the consummate distortion pedal for any genre or playing style.

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Green Rhino Overdrive

The legendary Way Huge Green Rhino has returned! The Mk II has all the gorgeous classic overdrive that you crave but it has evolved to include cool new features that make it even more rhinoceriffic. In addition to the Volume, Tone, and Drive controls, you get a 100Hz EQ knob to cut or boost your low end by 12dB. Your low notes can either shake the ground like a stampede across the savannah or cut through the mix like a charging rhino’s horn.

This pachyderm of a pedal also sports a Curve control to fine-tune the corner frequencies of your tone. All this amazing tone shaping makes other overdrives seem boring and one-dimensional by comparison. In front of a clean amp, with the Volume and Drive set at noon, you can go from pristine purity to a punchy, dynamic rhythm tone. Set the Drive low and crank the Volume and add tons of boost to wallop the input of any amp. Turn up the Drive control with the Rhino in front of a distorted channel and hear more gain and sustain than you ever thought your amp was capable of. And no matter how you use it, the Green Rhino Mk II will deliver clean operation, quiet relay-based true-bypass switching, and the rock-solid construction that Way Huge is famous for.

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Pork Loin Soft Clip Injection Overdrive 

Make room for one more Way Huge original! The Pork Loin incorporates two distinct tonal pathways that are blended together—a modern soft clipping overdrive and a modified classic British preamp for clean. At the heart of the Pork Loin’s overdrive path is a soft clipped BiFET overdrive gain stage with a passive Tone control, rounded out by a Curve function that gives the user freedom to fine-tune corner frequencies. The Volume control regulates the masses of pork power that exude from its space age circuitry, leaving room for the Clean control to blend in its warm glistening clean tones. Additionally, the Pork Loin has three internal mini controls: Filter and Voice deliver extensive tonal shaping possibilities, while the overdrive Mix control allows the Pork Loin to be run as a clean preamp. With a wide range of dynamic tones, the Pork Loin is the premier overdrive pedal on the market today!


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Red Llama Overdrive

The often imitated but never duplicated thunder of the Red Llama is back! This is not a reproduction, but a continuation of where the groundbreaking archetype left off in 1999. Every single feature that made the Red Llama so mighty is still in place, right where Mr. Huge left them. Season to taste any amp, big or small, clean or dirty the Llama is the perfect compliment to them all, with a rich harmonic palette available on the austere control panel. Spin the drive knob and go from a gentle grind all the way up to massive distortion. Use lower settings for defined open chording or juiced clean tones. Go a little higher for crunchy power fifths, and crank it up for buttery lead tones and tight, bottom-heavy riffage. The volume control sets the desired amount of overall level, but be forewarned: The output capabilities of the Red Llama are legendary, with more than enough gain to force even the cleanest, most stubborn amps to submit their headroom.


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Ringworm Ring Modulator 

Dial in some crazy freaked out madness with the Way Huge Ring Worm; an analog modulator based on old school synth technology, with a new, designed-from-the-ground-up circuit. One twist of the 5-way selector knob takes you through five different waves of Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO) lunacy, adding beautifully bizarre and unpredictable amounts of modulation to your otherwise traditional tone. The Depth knob controls intensity, and the Rate knob controls speed of the LFO, while the Blend and Frequency knobs controls the mix of the effect and pitch of the internal oscillator. An expression input allows an expression pedal to take over the function of the Frequency knob. Don't be afraid to explore the depths of the abstract with this looney Way Huge creation.


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Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz 

The most sought after and corpulent Way Huge pedal is back! The Swollen Pickle MkII surrenders super high-gain fuzz with copious amounts of smooth low-end to all who dare plug into it. With a twist of the Sustain control, you’re taken from mild crunch to Armageddon! The Filter control retains its trademark insane range of heavily band-pass-filtered tones, distinguished by remarkable girth and sizzle, and the Loudness puts out enough volume to clobber any amp! Newly added features include a tone stack Scoop control that elicits classic Swollen Pickle mid-scoop or a flat mid-frequency sweep, and a Crunch knob to adjust the compression intensity of the fuzz. Finally, under the hood, the Swollen Pickle MkII has two internal mini controls; Voice sets the intensity of the external scoop control from light to heavy mid cut, and Clip varies between two sets of clipping diodes for smooth or opened fuzz sustain.


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Jazzmaster

We've got new Jazzmasters in stock! Check em out...

Fender American Vintage '62 Jazzmaster - 3 Colour Sunburst

Introduced in 1958, the Jazzmaster® guitar was the first Fender instrument to feature an offset-waist body, a rosewood fingerboard, separate lead and rhythm circuits with separate volume and tone controls, a floating bridge and floating/locking tremolo. The American Vintage ’62 Jazzmaster has the distinctive look and sound of the original, including the warm-sounding pickups, original lead and rhythm circuit switching, and floating tremolo with tremolo lock.

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Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster - 3 Colour Sunburst

The Classic Player Jazzmaster® Special guitar updates the famous Jazzmaster model with several modern improvements, including hotter pickups, an Adjusto-Matic™ bridge, 9.5” fingerboard radius and neck pocket with increased back-angle for improved stability and sustain.

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These are one of the most iconic guitars in rock history being one of the most widely used Fender guitars in everything from surf rock, post punk, alternative rock, shoegaze and many more. Check out some videos below to see them in action...